Improved well-posedness of problems in mathematical physics involving linear constraints (Q1594403)

The author studies a general class of problems arising in mathematical physics which contain a linear constraint (typically, solenoidality of some vector fields). The author proposes a new method, based on the penalty method, which enables to study the problem in more regular functional spaces. These ideas are then applied to the two-dimensional instationary Stokes flow. The method may be useful especially in numerical treatment of various problems in mathematical physics.